Reader E. O'Meara of Northern California has been emailing me about her adventures the past several days, canvassing for Bernie Sanders in Reno and training as a leader for this weekend's caucuses. With her permission, I am sharing her journey with Sardonicky readers. Some names, including that of the author, have been changed in order to protect their privacy. The emails have been very lightly edited.
February 14:
I am working as a nurse practitioner in my local county jail, which has half its 400 population comprised of immigration detainees.
The
volunteers did a good job of getting everyone who came to canvass into
groups. My girlfriend, Karli and I were joined by a very cool retired
Indian man (his bumper sticker said "Medicare for None" with the
Romney/Ryan name and logo beneath it). We were sent to a very wealthy,
very Republican area with lots of space between lots. We were unable to
finish all the houses on our lists (I hit about 30 houses) before
calling it a day. It was a pretty discouraging experience, canvassing
that area.
Three interactions stand out.
The first
one was a 74 year old woman who had been identified as a "lean Bernie"
Democrat. I asked if she would be going to caucus, and she didn't
hesitate to say "No. Bernie's too old".
The second
one was at a house where a female voter had been identified as
Independent, I think (for sure not Republican!). A ruddy-faced, mustached
white male in his late 50's or older answered the door and wouldn't let
me speak with the person in question. "I'm not voting for him because
he's a socialist!" Okay, but may I speak to so-and-so? "We're not voting for him because he's a socialist!"
At a third house, I asked the man answering the door if he was going to the caucus. "No," he replied. "I'm going skiing."
Since tomorrow is a holiday (and I have it off because I belong to a union!),
I am going to a caucus training at the Washoe County Democratic HQ. I
will volunteer to work at the caucus next Saturday. I was told they have
600 precincts to oversee, and they won't have too many volunteers.
Besides the usual stuff, they also need people to be on the lookout for
illegal antics from the other side; they want people to record suspect
behavior.
(Ed. note: So much for claims from Clintonites that Bernie is a one-note campaigner: The New York Times covered his Reno visit here. A more extensive account of the rally from the Reno Gazette Journal is here. )
Feb. 16:
I went to a caucus training on Monday at the Washoe County Democratic HQ. I knew nothing about caucuses until this election. My girlfriend didn't even know Nevada had a caucus until this year.
http://nvdems.com/caucus/how/
People must be in attendance at a caucus to let their will be known. The
window for being allowed to get into the caucus is very small: 11 am to
12 pm for Democrats on Saturday, Feb. 20. The Republican caucus is on
Tuesday Feb. 23 in the evening (they have to bring photo ID, but the Dems
don't). For the Dems, one must be inside or in line by 12 pm. Anyone
arriving after that time doesn't get to participate.
After
formalities, people get into groups depending on their chosen
candidate. Some people may be undecided, and they get their own group.
Using a mathematical formula based on allotted delegates for that
precinct, the number of voters present, and the number in the individual
groups, "viability" is determined. If a group is not viable, its
members may decide to switch to a different group or not be part of one,
after members of the other groups have a chance to convince them to go
to their side. Once the viable groups have been set, the number of
delegates they have won are determined based on a mathematical formula,
then chosen from the group to go on to the county convention.
(Interestingly, an undecided group can potentially be viable. It
behooves each group to select their allotted number of delegates,
because if they don't, the delegates that are then chosen by the Party
don't get to go beyond the state convention. (It's county, state, then
national)
Why a caucus over a primary? There is no way everyone who
wants to participate can. Although a Saturday is preferable to a
weekday, people must work. A one-hour window is seriously inferior to
the 12-hr window when voting in person, or the days-long window for
mail-in ballots. And what about voters who are home-bound? Agoraphobic?
Not willing to sacrifice their weekend?
But
I think I found out why: parties pay for the caucuses; taxpayers pay
for the primaries. Nevada had a $500,000 bill one primary with a low
turnout. Also, for whatever reason, the parties had wanted two early
primaries and two early caucuses. Both of the primary slots and one
caucus slot were already taken.
They
need lots of volunteers to help with the 600 precincts in Nevada. We
out-of-staters have been asked to show up at HQ at 9 am on caucus day
and await instructions on where to go based on needs as they arise.
I'll write again after the Saturday caucus.
